Criminal
by Gia279
Summary: This is what happened in Cabeswater (a continuation of my Devil's Dance Floor/Dreams stories (Dog Park also goes with these but only includes Blue/Gansey)) with Adam and Ronan-AKA: Why Ronan and Adam were muddy. Try listening to Under My Skin by Sarah Connor when reading, it sets the mood and helps a bit. ;D Very short but potent. RL X AP/ Pynch


**(A/N: Best if you listen to Under My Skin by Sarah Connor when reading the /steamy/ parts. Trust me, it sets the mood. ;D)**

**Criminal **

_**Monmouth, 11**_

Adam stared at the paper that had been folded on his passenger seat, swallowing thickly. His first thought was _who writes letters anymore?_ And then he'd thought maybe it was Blue. But the handwriting was spiky and almost threatening, thin and precise. Ronan's.

He took a deep breath and studied it for a moment longer. He had a total of nine minutes to get to Monmouth if he wanted to make it there by eleven on the dot. He had to decide if he wanted to get there at eleven. If he wanted to go when he knew that Gansey was not there, when he knew that Ronan was alone and probably meant it.

Adam pulled out of the church's parking lot and pointed his car toward Monmouth. Drawn there. Unwilling and eager, confused.

Ronan was outside waiting. He wore black jeans and a t-shirt, leaning against his car with his head tipped down, scowling at his shoes. He wasn't wearing his leather bracelets.

Adam got out of his car and hesitated beside it, unsure of himself. When Ronan tilted his head, smiled a little, and beckoned him closer, he tried not to trip over himself getting there.

"Where are we going?" Adam asked, speaking slowly and enunciating carefully. He'd never

been more conscious of his accent.

"Cabeswater," Ronan said rather abruptly. "Get in."

Disappointment and relief warred in Adam's chest. Disappointment won, and made his voice sharp, defensive. "Why're we going there today?"

The look Ronan gave him was surprisingly patient. "You'll see," he said with a very small smile.

The ride to Cabeswater was quiet and fast. Adam didn't know what to say. He didn't know what to ask. Ronan wasn't offering anything, either, staying silent as they whipped toward Cabeswater at a speed that could kill them if they impacted with something like a tree.

When they arrived, Ronan got out without saying anything. Adam sat still for a moment, wondering if he should follow. He couldn't tell if he was irritated or disappointed or confused or scared. He followed Ronan into the trees.

"What are we looking for, Ronan?" Adam asked quietly.

Ronan turned around and spread his hands out at his side, his chin tipped down enough that his eyes were just shadows to Adam; he made himself look like some avenging forest god, Pan waking to fight back for the trees. An evil Pan.

"We aren't looking for anything," he said as an unholy grin spread over his face. "We're just here to walk."

_I have to work in a couple hours, I haven't eaten today, I'm going to be exhausted at work,_ Adam thought, but what he said was, "Alright."

Ronan dropped his arms and lifted his head; the smile on his face seemed less devilish this way, and smaller. "Matthew wanted to come back here, after we brought Mom back."

Adam made a humming noise, because he didn't know what to say. Again. Gansey always had the words, and Blue always had the will to speak her mind, and everyone else seemed to know how to say something in the right moments but here was Adam with no voice, not now, not before, not ever.

"Is Gansey out of town again?"

"He'll be back tonight," Ronan replied, putting his hands in his pockets in a very Gansey move.

For the first time, Adam wondered what Ronan was like before his father died; was he like Gansey? Or was it that Gansey had changed, become more responsible and likeable –to Adam, at least—because he'd had to parent Ronan simply out of love for his friend?

Love, Adam was beginning to understand, often made you do things you weren't sure you wanted to do.

Thunder began to grumble above them, before a light misting of rain began to fall.

"Adam," Ronan said, abruptly right beside him, so close he could feel his body heat.

"Yes?" he asked, swiping his bangs out of his eyes. He stumbled back when Ronan stepped closer, until he hit a tree. He stupidly looked up at the tree, almost accusingly, then whipped his gaze back down at Ronan when he leaned even closer.

"I'm going to kiss you now," Ronan said very clearly. He let his weight fall against Adam, chest to chest, hips to hips, and, then, at last, mouth to mouth.

Adam let out a breath and gripped Ronan's shoulders hard, pulling him closer.

Ronan brought his hands up to grip Adam's face momentarily before sliding down to grip his hips, pressing into him and making him shudder. Ronan nipped his bottom lip lightly before sliding his hands under the backs of Adam's thighs, boosting him up onto Ronan's hips. He latched his teeth onto Adam's shoulder, then grazed them up his neck to his jaw, before Adam moaned and grabbed Ronan's jaw and forced their mouths together again.

The rain was coming down harder now, making the ground slick beneath Ronan's feet—they slid down into the mud. Ronan, gasping, leaned back a little, reaching up to pin Adam's hands above his head before he kissed him again.

Cold rain and mud soaked his clothes, but he barely felt it; he was burning up, squirming beneath Ronan; he had to _touch_ and _move_, he couldn't just lay here anymore.

With a surprising burst of strength, he rolled Ronan under him and slid his hands down his chest, finding his shirt already soaking through. Under it, Ronan's flesh was hot, and his muscular belly quivered.

He leaned back, chin up, to let Adam do as he pleased. He pressed fast, open-mouthed kisses down Ronan's chest to his jeans' waistband, which is when Ronan finally reared up and shoved Adam under him again; the ground felt unsteady beneath them, slick and dangerous. Adam arched up and gasped when Ronan bit down hard on his shoulder and laughed loudly. He felt Ronan's long fingered hands sliding up under his shirt, stroking over his ribs and back down by his hips, where his pants were now very low, weighed down by the rain and mud.

His skin felt sensitive and new where Ronan was touching him.

Adam brought his hand up and slid his finger along Ronan's jaw, the sharp, angular line of it. They slipped a few feet and it was then that Adam realized they were _actually_ slipping down a muddy hill, toward an enormous puddle. He leaned his head forward, peering over Ronan's shoulder for a better look, but Ronan turned his face back and kissed him again, until they slid more and Adam's teeth split his lip open.

"I'm sorry," he gasped, pressing his closed lips to the wound.

Ronan hitched Adam's leg up on his hip, until their legs were so tangled together that they wouldn't have been able to stand. Ronan dug his knees into the mud, pressing into Adam roughly, kissing him fiercely and both of them running their hands over each other and exploring and wishing and trying desperately to breathe without backing off.

"Ummm," Adam managed to gasp, digging his nails into Ronan's sides. "I have to, ummm, I have to get—ready for work," he panted, catching Ronan's mouth with his own again.

Ronan just let out a low noise and pressed harder against him.

"Ronan. Ronan, stop," Adam sighed, and blinked in surprise when Ronan went still. "I—what?"

Ronan tipped his head forward. "You said stop," he said quietly. He looked up at the sky. "The rain stopped, too."

The rain didn't matter, either way. They were soaked and filthy and practically pasted together.

"I really do have to get ready for work. Especially because I have to shower now."

A gleam of something mischievous came to Ronan's bright blue eyes, but Adam just shook his head, even when Ronan rolled his hips a little, a smile curving his lips smugly when Adam gasped.

"I really do have to go," he managed. He nearly blurted that he was starving.

"Let's get something to eat before we go," Ronan said, peeling himself off of Adam. His knees and were caked with mud, his hands and face streaked with it.

Adam got up and brushed at the dirt sticking to his back and legs. Ronan had definitely taken the worst of it, even though Adam had been on his back most of the time. He glanced up at Ronan, catching sight of his swollen red lips and found his hand fisted in wet black t-shirt, yanking Ronan down toward him for another hard kiss.

Ronan cupped his hand around the back of Adam's neck, drawing him closer, drawing the kiss out, softening it until they were both trembling.

"Let's go," Ronan murmured, stepping back.

They ate at a diner they found just outside of Henrietta, sliding into their booth without noticing the stares. Adam was too hungry to protest when Ronan snarled that he was paying; they just ordered whatever looked good and shoveled it down like starved wolves, both of them leaning over their plates like inmates wary of their food being stolen.

After they got back in the car they leaped at each other, cursing and gasping when the gear shift caught one of their hips or legs as they tangled together. Ronan let out a nearly inaudible groan when Adam slid his mouth down to Ronan's shoulder while Ronan's grip on his hair was like iron.

After they'd managed to calm down, they drove back to Monmouth. Gansey still wasn't back.

"What time are you off?" Ronan asked, still breathing kind of unevenly.

Adam nearly asked _off what_ but his brain clicked back on. "Oh, midnight, maybe one if I can grab an extra hour there, get some overtime." He shrugged and unbuckled his seatbelt. "Thanks for lunch," he said awkwardly.

Just when he reached for the door, Ronan grabbed him by the shirt and dragged him over to his side of the car, kissing him again and again and again before Adam finally gasped that he really should go to get cleaned up.

"Okay," Ronan said in a remarkably calm voice, as if he wasn't affected; speaking as the boy sprawled across his lap, Adam could say he definitely _was _affected.

Finally in his own car, Adam decided it was a day well-spent, his lips still tingling as he drove. When he saw Blue walking down a side-road with a box in her hands, heading toward Monmouth, he was ashamed that he sped up to get away before she saw him; he didn't know how to explain to her. He wasn't sure he wanted to. It wasn't her business.

**Ronan Lynch**

He finally got up to go in about five minutes after Adam had left. Little aftershocks of surprise and pleasure kept rippling through him. Every bit of his skin that Adam had touched, bit, licked, or kissed tingled, so he walked carefully, as if he might break. He wasn't sure he hadn't already shattered to pieces in Cabeswater.

The last two and a half hours were a blur of sensations, of the sound of gasps and groans and sighs, of unspeakable pleasure and satisfaction. Ronan wanted Adam to come back, to come upstairs.

Before he went inside, Chainsaw swooped down and landed on his shoulder with an indignant ruffling of feathers. He cupped his hand over her head for a moment.

"I didn't want to watch you eating mice all day," he said quietly. "Plus, it might've put him off, and then I'd have been nowhere."

She let out a soft caw, the way she did to speak to Ronan, only this sound was different, softer. She turned her head to look out the door while Ronan went to the stairs.

"Someone coming?" he wondered. "Probably."

**End**


End file.
